Galamsey activities have intensified behind the Kyebi office of environmental group A-Rocha Ghana in the Abuakwa South Municipality of the Eastern Region.
The destruction has already affected more than 50 acres of land and now threatens nearby buildings with possible collapse.
More than 70 illegal miners have reportedly taken over the area, operating with at least five excavators and several other heavy machines.
The once-quiet community in Kyebi has now turned into a busy mining site, with workers carrying out operations throughout the day and night.
Residents say the constant noise, thick dust, and severe destruction of the land have created dangerous living conditions.
Parts of the A-Rocha Ghana office and some nearby homes now appear unstable and are said to be “hanging” due to the damage caused by the mining activity.
The scale of destruction shocked a visiting European Union delegation led by the EU Ambassador to Ghana, Rune Skinnebach.
The delegation toured some illegal mining sites in Kyebi together with journalists and police officers to assess the growing environmental challenges linked to galamsey.
“So, before coming here to this forest in the Kibi area, I’d heard a lot about galamsey. Today we have visited a couple of sites, we’ve seen what it does to nature. We have started to understand the complexities of the galamsey file,” Skinnebach said.
The ambassador pointed to weak law enforcement and governance problems as major reasons the crisis continues to spread.
“We know that there are problems with this framework which has been laid down, and today we have seen or partly understood why,” he explained.
Skinnebach warned that the environmental damage has become widespread and continues to grow rapidly.
He noted that although some communities benefit financially in the short term, the long-term effects on nature are devastating.
“We can see whole communities benefiting from but in the short term. We’ve also seen the effects it has on nature,” he said.
He also expressed concern about the pollution of Ghana’s water bodies caused by illegal mining.
“We know that it’s polluting the water bodies. 65 percent of the water bodies in Ghana are now polluted due to galamsey.”
Beyond environmental destruction, the ambassador stressed that illegal mining also creates serious health, governance, and security risks.
“We know that it has effects on the health of the workers but also of the regular Ghanaian consumer. Clearly, it has implications for governance, clearly it has implications for corruption, clearly it has implications for security also,” he stated.
The ambassador also noted that rising global gold prices could create opportunities for responsible and properly regulated mining.
“Gold prices are high; we can have a regulated exploration of gold and still make a profit,” he added.
